The few Spot Night shows I attended last year were either under-attended, or completely overfilled.

However, due to several changes to the weekly concert series, it has already gained a greater following this school year, attracting crowds that have consistently filled The Spot. Case Western Reserve University’s music scene is abuzz, and a big part of that energy has to do with Spot Night.
The event, which used to be on Wednesday nights, is now more accessible with its post-hump daytime slot (Thursdays at 9 p.m.). Also a good note: the bands so far have had varied styles, with alternative, folk and rock genres already making an appearance.

A lot of people think that it’s always local bands that play at Spot Nights, with not-so-great live music. Those people would be incorrect.
American Authors played the first Spot Night this year with an excited pop rock style that was very successful with the crowd. This band is not what you would call local. Recently, American Authors played on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” after their Spot Night performance.

The following week, The Mowgli’s hopped up on stage and drew in a line of students waiting to get in. Though The Mowgli’s are not the most famous band in the world, their popularity has risen in the indie scene after performing at music festivals like Lollapalooza and Chipotle’s Cultivate Festival. Their single “San Francisco” reached 38th on Billboard’s Alternative Songs, and the crowd sang along to the single’s upbeat lyrics.

Humble Home didn’t have as much recognition as the preceding two, but supporting local bands has always been a tradition for Spot Nights. The band is working on a new album and playing folky live shows along the way; however, their popularity isn’t a big deal in terms of Spot Nights.

Look at it this way; Passion Pit is one of the more popular alternative bands in today’s world, with singles labelled as top tens. Passion Pit also performed at a Spot Night years ago, here at CWRU as a local band. Once a Spot Night performance, now a Homecoming Headliner whose songs peak the charts… It just goes to show that you never know which local bands performing on the tiny Spot Night stage are going to get big.